Design for manufacturability (DFM) design guidelines

DESIGN  FOR  MANUFACTURABILITY  GUIDELINES

by Kenneth Crow
DRM Associates

© 2001 DRM Associates   All rights reserved. May be printed for reading, reference & distribution with attribution. Other use prohibited.

Product Development Forum
NPD Body of Knowledge
Design for Manufacturability Paper
Design for Assembly Guidelines
Example of Detailed Guidelines
DFM Consulting
DFMA Training
DRM Associates
DFMA Guidelines

Additional design for manufacturability guidelines are available from the following links.

Design For Manufacturing Guidelines (Engineers Edge)
Casting Design Guidelines (Engineers Edge)
Metal Injection Molding Design Guide (Kinetics)
Die-Casting Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Sand Casting Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Forging Design Guidelines (Engineers Edge)
Powder Metallurgy Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Forging Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Plastic Injection Molding Design Guidelines (Engineers Edge)
Plastic Injection Molding Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Insert Molding & Plastic Assembly Guidelines
Designing Plastic Components for Robotically-Dispensed, Foam-in-Place Gasketing
Machining-Drilling Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Machining-Turning & Boring Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Machining-Milling Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Machining-Flat Surface Grinding Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Machining-Centered Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Machining-Centerless Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Sheetmetal Guidelines (Cygnet)
Sheetmetal-Bending Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Sheetmetal-Forming Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Sheetmetal-Blanking Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Sheetmetal-Piercing Design Guidelines (eFunda)
Welding Design Guidelines (Efunda)
Integral Attachment Guidelines
Design for Parts Feeding
Printed Circuit Board Design Guidelines (Durant)
Printed Circuit Board Design Guidelines (AMS)
Printed Circuit Board Design Guidelines (Fermilab)
Design Guidelines for Chip on Board (Arma)
Through Hole Design Guidelines (Universal)
Environmentally-Oriented Product Design Guidelines
Plastics Disassembly and Recycling Design Guide

These general guidelines form a good starting point for a designer. Ultimately, an organization should develop company- or site-unique guidelines that consider it manufacturing process capabilities and the requirements of its products. An example of a company sheetmetal design guideline is available.

Another source for specific guidelines is from your outside supplier. Many suppliers have developed detailed guidelines based on their process capabilities and tooling. A PDF example of sheetmetal design guidelines from one supplier can be seen.

DFM/A guidelines covering assembly, PCB fabrication and assembly, machining, injection molding and sheetmetal are available for license from DRM Associates and as part of the PD-Trak software.

A final source of guidelines is from industry organizations and books. For example, the Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits (IPC) publishes a number of guidelines such as: IPC-D-782A "Surface Mount Design Guides and Land Pattern Configurations".